Essay, Research Paper: Abortion 22

Helping Make a Dignified Choice
Every year in the United States, 25% of pregnancies are ended in abortion. This number may seem quite high, but it is actually on the decline and is much lower than several other countries. These numbers are extremely high for one main reason. That reason is a lack of education. When young women become pregnant they feel the only alternative to having the baby is abortion. This is wrong and that is why we must educate the public to bring the abortion numbers down.
The abortion issue has two sides. Pro-lifers believe that a human life is created at conception. Pro-choicers believe life begins at birth. Both groups have the common goal of minimizing the number of abortions, but have different ways of accomplishing that. For example, pro-lifers believe abortion should be illegal, while pro-choicers believe that it is the woman s body as well as her choice. The other main differences lie in the definitions of several key terms. For example take the word pregnancy. Pro-lifers believe pregnancy starts at conception, while pro-choices believe it starts at the time of birth. To bring down the abortion rate, we need to focus on the factors causing the problems (Baird).
I believe the main factor is a lack of education. If we started to educate children earlier about pregnancy, we would see a drop in the number of pregnancies and abortions. While this technique may be long and expensive, it is the best remedy for the long run. There are several ways we can implement this technique. We could develop a program similar to D.A.R.E., in which it is demanded for students to take classes. D.A.R.E., which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, has been especially successful. The purpose of the program is to inform children that popularity can be found in positive and nonviolent behavior. The program also helps children feel a sense of belonging that stresses their values. D.A.R.E teaches children valuable lessons concerning drugs and alcohol abuse. The program helps the children to lead better, fuller, and more satisfying lives. Research done by the D.A.R.E. program showed that for every $1 spent on drug abuse prevention, communities can save $4 to $5 in costs for drug abuse treatment and counseling. It was also found that in the past two years, drug abuse has either stayed the same or declined. The program has seen this type of success since it started in 1983 (D.A.R.E.). I believe a class like this concerning abortion and pregnancy would have similar success.
The class would inform the children on the purposes of sex and pregnancy. It would teach them the importance of sex and why you should wait for the right person. This would directly tie into abortion portion of the class. The class would tell why abortion is wrong and what alternatives there are to abortion. They would learn how contraceptive methods such as condoms are used to prevent pregnancy, while abortifacient techniques are used to end a pregnancy that has already begun (Prolife.org). Some other common forms of birth control the students would learn about are diaphragms, cervical caps, contraceptive pills, and emergency contraception pills or "the morning after pill."
There are some other alternatives to education. One of them is making abortion illegal, but at this stage it is impossible. As the public continues to become more educated, the abortion rate will go down as will the opinion of abortion. At this stage there may be a possibility of making abortion illegal. But until we get to this stage, making abortion illegal is not an option. There is hope though, because the public's opinion of abortion has been changing. A CNN Poll in 1998 showed that only 31% of men and 32% of women were advocates of abortion. A similar poll was taken in 1980, which showed that 52% of the population believed in some form of abortion. Other than education, making it illegal would be the main goal. Obviously abortions would still happen, but now the number of pregnancies each year would dip under five percent. I also believe that more pregnancy clinics are needed. Pregnancy clinics help to spread the word to the public concerning pregnancy. I believe simple things like free condoms are a start to remedy the problem (Religioustolerance.org).
As mentioned earlier, education is the best way of dealing with the abortion rate. Education at a younger age helps to control pregnancy and it informs involved parties of the alternatives they have. Not only would the abortion rate and pregnancy rate drop, but so would the number of sexually transmitted diseases. Although every woman has the right to abortion, I believe that many women would change their decision if they knew of the alternatives.